Four men charged over alleged bid to obtain over $6 million in loans by impersonating violinist and mortgaging his property

Four men have been charged in court over an alleged conspiracy to impersonate a violinist and mortgage his property in an attempt to obtain more than $6 million in loans from credit companies.

The accused, Fan Zhenhao Ernest, 39, Terence Tan Jun Ming, 29, Li Xianneng Andrew, 36, and Ching Fei Fan Lazarus, 27, were charged in the State Courts on Tuesday (10 November).

Fan faces six charges, including cheating, using forged documents and offences under the National Registration Act.

According to the charges, he allegedly conspired with an accomplice named Cozen Nova Khor in 2025 to impersonate local violinist Elgar Kwek Chong Hee, signing documents with VM Capital and Comfort Credit in an attempt to fraudulently obtain loans of $3.3 million and $2.9 million respectively.

Fan is also accused of conspiring with Khor in 2025 to use forged Singpass pages on three occasions with the intention of cheating. He was also allegedly found in possession of a forged identity card bearing Kwek’s name on 14 March 2026.

Tan faces one cheating charge. He allegedly conspired with Khor between January and March 2026 to help arrange a viewing of a private residential property in Katong and a visit to a law firm to handle documents for the transfer of ownership.

Li allegedly conspired with Khor and another accomplice, Joydep, in February 2026 for Joydep to produce and supply a forged identity card bearing Kwek’s name. Ching is accused of conspiring with Khor in November 2025 to invite Kwek, on a pretext, to give violin performances on 6 February and 1 April 2026 to facilitate the cheating scheme.

Li therefore faces one charge under the National Registration Act, while Ching faces two cheating charges.

The cases against Fan, Ching and Li were adjourned to December for further mention. Fan and Ching were each offered bail of $15,000, while Li’s bail was set at $10,000.

Tan had earlier been charged with nine other offences, including cheating and housebreaking.

He is accused of falsely reporting the loss of his passport on the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority’s website, using another person’s identity to rent a car, obtaining several mobile phones worth more than $10,000 in total by deceiving shop staff on several occasions into believing he had paid, and breaking into a food court office with the intention of stealing.

He is currently being held without bail, and his case has been adjourned to 19 November for a pre-trial conference.

According to a police statement issued on Monday (9 November), the authorities received a report from the homeowner on 3 April this year. He said a caveat had been lodged against his property in connection with a loan application without his authorisation.

Investigations found that forged documents had been used to apply for a mortgage loan, with the homeowner’s property offered as collateral. After establishing the identities of the four accused, police arrested them during operations on 14 and 15 April. A forged identity document and several mobile phones were also seized.

Further investigations found that the four men had allegedly worked with another man in an attempt to fraudulently obtain loans from two credit companies using Kwek’s property. Police are still tracing another accomplice.